Donald Trump Jr Calls to Strip Media Cartel Bill from NDAA

Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday questioned why some Republicans would work with Democrats to “destroy alternative media,” and urged Congress to strip the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Trump Jr. asked rhetorically, “Why are some Republicans working with Dems to destroy alternative media? This law gives Big Tech & the Corporate Media MORE censorship power. Strip it out of the NDAA!”

Trump Jr. released his statement as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has moved to include the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The JCPA would create an antitrust exemption to allow the media industry to create a cartel to negotiate with big tech for more advertising revenue. Detractors of the bill say it would lead to more censorship of conservatives and only benefit large media conglomerates at the expense of independent outlets.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has been leading the Republican advancement of the bill, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) helped strike a compromise amendment to the bill that helped the legislation advance out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

While Republicans such as McConnell, Cruz, and Kennedy have tried to move the bill forward, conservatives such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) have called for a filibuster of the legislation if the bill were included in the NDAA.

Cotton referred to the JCPA as a “payoff for liberal media companies to form a cartel to work with big tech that will hurt center-right outlets.”

He continued:

If Democrats insist on adding these extraneous measures to the bill, Republican senators should filibuster, and frankly, House Republicans, whose votes are necessary to pass it in the House, should not vote for it either, until the Democrats back down and pass a defense bill that is actually focused on our national security and supporting the troops.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said the legislation does not belong in the NDAA.

Tillis wrote, “The JCPA has no place in a defense authorization bill. This provision is simply a backroom deal to bail out Big Media for its failed business practices.”